Anish dhopeshwarkar
Film festivals provide young and aspiring professionals an opportunity to broaden their horizon. Here at IFFI too there are many such aspirants who have come to sharpen their cinematic mind.
Amidst the glitter and glamour of the film festival, graced by the presence of major celebs of the cineworld, among the faces in the crowd, there are many an enthusiastic youth to be seen. These optimistic faces have come from far away to get a glimpse of this event and learn from the industry stalwarts about their profession. Most of them being film students its part of their curriculum to participate such events, but many aspiring filmmakers in their early twenties have made their presence felt.
Sobita Kudtarkar,19, an actress from Porvorim told us “ I’ve been planning to pursue acting as my profession, so here at IFFI it gives me an opportunity to watch all those world renowned films which aren’t easily available otherwise. I can learn from various established professionals of their respective fields in masterclass,”. Masterclasses are something which attract these youngsters the most where they can have one to one conversation with the experts and learn from their experience. Kavya Bharat from CMR college, Banglore an aspiring filmmaker opined that workshops conducted are very informative and important, especially the Sreekar Prasad sir’s workshop on editing, where he was very polite and gentle and thoroughly talked about film editing. He further added “Our HoD has told us to maintain a handbook of all the movies we see and write down the reviews. Till date I have seen couple of Indian movies and a few international ones, and hoping to see more.”
Conversations with stars and celebrities gives people insight into the glittering and glamorous industry, with some anecdotes which provides significant know-how. It’s a prominent feature of IFFI which is on the to-do list of almost all budding filmmakers “Conversations allow me to learn about the experiences of working in such dynamic industry from the filmmakers,actors. One can learn a lot from such interactions and also it allows one clear any doubts by directly approaching the speaker. I learned about how to prepare for the schedule and liked Arjit Singh’s story with respect to production of movie ‘Sa’,” said Prasad Take, an acting student from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada university. “More than movies my preference will be for conversations in the coming days,” expressed Prasad.
Most of the younger crowd did express little dissatisfaction over certain shortcomings at IFFI. Nitin, in his early twenties, an assistant director from Kerala, complained about the ticketing issues he has been facing. Anju Prasad another assistant director who one day wants to direct her own film stated that she and her friends have been attending film festivals whenever they get an opportunity. “I have been to IFFI Kerala, MAMI, and now IFFI Goa. We tend to make it a point to attend such festivals as it gives us exposure and chance to meet various people across land masses,” said Anju. Another aspiring filmmaker and writer Shripad Kurtarkar, ,from Don Bosco College Panjim,who calls himself “filmy guy”, told our spokesperson”I love watching films and I am here to learn from them. Various short films and other low budget critically acclaimed films get a great platform here, along with the directors and the actors. Overall for all the filmy people it’s a paradise. And one day I hope to see my film screened my at IFFI too”, he adds.
